Prague night/day - view of the Hradschin

On August 29th/ 30th, 1999 our study classes went to Prague. The bus started on Northern Germany on Sunday evening at 8pm picking up all the participating students all over Northern Germany. We reached our hotel Slavia (www.hotelslavia.cz) - being really tired but in good mood on Monday at around noon.
In a real hurry, we moved our stuff into the hotelrooms to be ready to start explore the city. Our first stop was a brewery called U Fleku. The guide explained the main stations of brewing beer and finally we were offered to try the beer. Well, it was different than German beer but as other beer nothing Livi would like to drink again. After that we had a guided tour thru the old part of Prague. That was so great but also very exhausting walking all day long after that miserable night in the bus.

On Tuesday, we went to the memorial place Lidice and the former concentration camp Theresienstadt (Terezín). That was so interesting but also caused weird feelings.
On Wednesday, we visited the German Emabassy and in the afternoon we've been to the Hradschin.
Thursday, we took a tour to Burg Karlstein. And in the evening, it was show-time at the brewery U Fleku. There we had dinner while watching cabaret. It was fun mostly because none of us could speak or understand the czech language. So, it was kind of like a game for us to follow the acting by trying to figure out the meaning of the gestures and the emphazise of the words.
Well, then it was already Friday and time to depart.

Burg Karlstein

Our upshot:
Great days, busy schedule, lots of fun, wonderful places and sights but defintely a much too short trip to have enough time to really explore the city!

We have been guided thru Prague and area by an excellent czech guide who always made everybody pay attention by supporting his reports by lots of anecdotes and stories which roused/called the interest of all of us.
And thru him, even the last one of us has realized that Prague belongs to the most wonderful cities on earth.

Prague Overview

The 'Karlstein-Bridge'

Astronomical Clock (Townhall clock)

Theresienstadt:
The small fortress was built at the end of the 18th century. It was named Theresienstadt (Terezín) after the empress Maria Theresia.
The fortress was being used as a prison nearly from its beginning on. After the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia thru Nazi-Germany and because the other penal institutions gradually got filled because of the fascist terrors, leads to the consequence that in 1940 a prison of the Prague Gestapo was established in the small fortress.
The first prisoners were brought in on June 14th, 1940. During the war about 32.000 prisoners passed thru the camp, under them 5.000 women.
Mostly Czechs but in course of time also nationals of other nations for example citizens of Russia, Poland, Germany, Yugoslavia and towards the end of the war even members of the British Army, French hostages, etc.

Well, being at Theresienstadt let us become weird emotions and feelings we really got mixed up. Wevebeen so close to the past, walked on streets people walked along years ago, viewed shooting grounds, etc. It was definetly a real mixture of feelings; exciting and also very sad at the same time. You automatically started thinking about all the people who have been walking along those streets, their fears, pains, their anguish and torment thru their captivity.

Click here to take a virtual tour thru Theresienstadt and get to see what we've seen there!

Inje:

Well, let me tell ya also a bit. It was fun to go for a week to Prague although we had a horrible ride to go there and back. The bus was awful because nobody could use the toilet and the busdriver didn't want to stop while driving. The hotel was okay although the breakfast was boring - every day the same things to eat.

And have ever been in a hotel room with Livi *G*? I think, it's the only person who likes to make a swimming pool out of the bath room! And she can sleep like a stone. Wow, she didn't even hear the telephone ringing loudly at night. And we were the only two people who went with clothes for a year on trip of five days - you need a lot to change when ever you like *G*.

Do you know where we ate best? Yeah, it was Dunkin' doughnut! Never had eaten so many doughnuts on a day before. What would have we done without that shop?